Leon was centre-stage for the series' critical high-point, Resident Evil 4, so it's notable that Capcom has framed the trailer's first chunk around him.

What is he aiming at?

The President.

"Bio-organic weapons are a global threat", growls the President of the United States, as we switch to a flashback.

Resident Evil 6 seems to continue the series' slow expansion of scope from the original's hush-hush experiments and zombies in a lone, spooky house to Resident Evil 5's storyline - which had bio-organic weapons in the hands of terrorists posing an overt threat to the world.

"We have to start working with the rest of the world," the President continues, mentioning the "Raccoon City incident" - the Resident Evil series' origins. "I'm going to tell them everything."

The ex-President.

A helpful US President? Of course he's going to snuff it. Here we see what Leon was aiming at. The poor President is looking a little ripe.

Presumably his good-natured desire to blab about the dangers of covert bio-weaponry has marked him out for immediate zombification.

The President approaches Leon in a shuffling manner, dragging his feet across the floor. 'Proper' Resident Evil zombies are back, and the President is one of them.

Leon's new partner.

"I always valued your friendship, Leon," the President continues, his zombie self intercut with him in flashback. This is presumably the same President whose daughter, Ashley Graham, was rescued by Leon in Resident Evil 4. More on her later.

Leon's got a new female partner, which Capcom has named as US government agent Helena Harper. Like Leon, she looks unlikely to believe the zombie President's claims that it's just jam around his mouth.

Bang! The President lunges at her, and a gunshot is fired. Did Leon just pop the President?

Resident Evil 6.

The new Resident Evil 6 logo appears on screen. It looks rusty and covered in cobwebs. Do they indicate a more spooky turn for the series after the shooting-heavy Resident Evil 5?

Now Leon's in some kind of dark facility. There's an American flag and some official-looking papers. Are we underneath the Whitehouse?

Cut to Leon padding down a dark, deserted corridor to ominous music. This one shot has more more creepy atmosphere than the whole of Resi 5's sunlit African setting.

Atmosphere.

"This is all my fault," Leon's partner moans. Maybe it's the suit and lipgloss but there's something very 24 about her.

"I did this," she sighs. Is she referring to the President's untimely end? Or perhaps to the scenes of firey devastation outside?

It's a scene that could come directly from Resident Evil 2, but we're not in Racoon City any more.

We're somewhere called Tall Oaks, and that place has a station.

Leon creeps inside a train tunnel in what could be our first glimpse of actual gameplay. The scene is again pitch black, with shadows of upcoming attackers stylishly cast on the curved wall of the train tunnel.

Tall Oaks Station.

Do his attackers move like zombies? It's hard to tell. Some seemed to be armed with crowbars and other objects.

Leon's updated character model looks very like Sawyer from Lost. Capcom has said that 10 years have now passed since the original Racoon City incident, four since we last saw Leon in Resident Evil 4. It shows on his tired, stubbly face.

Leon S. Kennedy - the S stands for Sawyer.

"What are you talking about?" Leon demands of his partner, confused by her admission that she had a hand in the unfolding events. His partner looks away, guiltily. Drama!

The scene switches again, this time to a grey government-looking office. It's Agent Hunnigan, the glasses-wearing agent that Leon flirted with throughout the early section of Resident Evil 4.

"90 per cent of the population of Tall Oaks has been infected with the virus," she tells Leon and partner via a high-tech form of Skype. "That's about 70,000 hostiles."

Agent Hunnigan.

Another section of small town America infected with a zombie virus? It is Resident Evil 2! "This is Racoon City all over again!" Leon affirms.

It all looks rather lovely though. Swathes of zombies shuffle through burning streets/get run down by a truck/get blown up in a montage of undead ass-whupping.

A few sections of what looks like actual gameplay follow, with Leon on the streets of Tall Oaks, his neck at one point being jumped upon by a passing zombie, and back in that railway tunnel, again being pushed to the ground.

The camera retains its behind-the-shoulder Resident Evil 4/5/Revelations setting, while Leon still has a penchant for cool-looking jackets.

"No, not me. Just my blood," the protagonist replies. "And the world can have it, as long as someone ponies up the dough." British-sounding accent? Definitely evil.

Online speculation suggests our new friend is Alex Wesker, brother of Albert Wesker who, for reasons which will be clear if you've played Resident Evil 5, probably won't be returning.

Alex Wesker, if this is him, has been mentioned in the games before but never seen. He and Albert were two of many siblings, but the only survivors of their genetic experimentation.

It's unclear where this third section of the game is set. Somewhere snowy, apparently.

Certainly, "Alex" shows some superhuman abilities, including being able to make ridiculously long Matrix-like leaps and survive.

He also seems to be facing the largest gallery of uglies to take down, including some dramatically mutated people and a huge troll-like boss.

"How many of our men are dead because of that bitch?" shouts Chris, the action snapping back to China, as the trailer begins a fast-paced montage to the finish. Who is Chris talking about? Has Jill done something bad again?

The final scenes feature snatches of Las Plagas-style head-exploding enemies and an even more gigantic El Gigante boss.

There are also quick flashes of Leon fighting a 'proper' zombie cop, Chris in a tank and 'Alex' jumping on to the windshield of an escaping small plane.

Just before the end comes a shot of Leon, Helena and someone wearing red being thrown around inside a falling train car. Internet speculation pegs the person wearing red as long-time Leon love interest Ada Wong, but it's impossible to tell.

The game looks well into development, a fact supported by Capcom's release date - 20th November 2012 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, with a PC version to follow later. Watch the trailer in full below.